Object + Paper Multiples - Unoriginal Sins

26 Apr PLAINT OF THE BARGE-SAILS. c. 1975?

Posted at 22:10h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (c. 1975?)
12 x 24cm., brown on white ceramic tile. The well known song Oranges & Lemons is re-written to re-contextualise the nursery rhyme to a maritime alternative - each rhyme ends with a fishing port and that geographical distinction defines which boat is chosen to make the couplet. Date unknown but all other Finlay tiles were published in the mid 70s. This tile is not in Murray or any other catalogue raisonne. A rarity. VG+.

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25 Apr KLEINER KREUZER SONATA. 1975. MEDALLION.

Posted at 16:34h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 19975
3 x 4.5cm, copper and brass plated aluminium medallion with chain. With a design by Ron Costley (which originally was created for the exhibition Heroic Emblems) of a wartime light cruiser with smoking chimney sacks. The drawing is a representation of one of the poet's earlier one-word poems - namely:

KLEINER KREUZER SONATA

Emden

The reference here is a poetic equivalence of a "Kleiner Kreuzer" (a light cruiser) and the Kreu(t)xer Sonata by Beethoven. Both are suggested to be celebrated by mention of the German Warship Emden which was celebrated for its heroic exploits by its national populus (and, of course, Beethoven also was German).
All of the Heroic Emblems showed modern machines (mostly of war) in reference to Classical myths. With original box and 14.5 x 14.5cm, 1pp (folded twice) leaflet with a commentary by Stephen Bann. Edition size not known but very hard to find.

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25 Apr A CELEBRATION OF EARTH, AIR, FIRE, WATER. 1975. MEDALLION.

Posted at 16:25h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 19975
3.5cm, dia. copper and brass plated aluminium medallion with chain. With a design by Ron Costley (which originally was created for the exhibition Heroic Emblems) of an aircraft carrier with a plane taking off from the deck. The original drawing relates to the USS Enterprise at the battle of Midway where the Japanese fleet was destroyed by the Americans. Finlay sees the aircraft carrier as typifying the classical elements of air, earth, sky, water and fire.
All of the Heroic Emblems showed modern machines (mostly of war) in reference to Classical myths. With original box and 14.5 x 14.5cm, 1pp (folded twice) leaflet with a commentary by Stephen Bann. Edition size not known but very hard to find.

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24 Apr FIVE FORE AND AFTERS. 1975. ONE OF ONLY 100 MADE.

Posted at 21:51h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
14.8 x 14.8cm., green on white ceramic tile with the names of five boat names (and their registered harbours). A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing vessel rigged mainly with sails set along the line of the keel. The names are all optimistic and the typography reflects the shape of the vessels. The title is alliterative around the letter F. One of only 100 made. Scare. VG+.

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24 Apr A CELEBRATION OF EARTH AIR FIRE WATER. 1975. UNIQUE TRIAL PROOF IN RED AND DARK RED.

Posted at 20:00h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
15 x 15cm, red and dark red on white ceramic tile with one of Finlay's Heroic Emblems on it. The text "A CELEBRATION OF EARTH AIR FIRE WATER" refers to the role of aircraft carriers during the defining sea battle of the War in the Pacific when the USA destroyed the Japanese fleet. The image of an aircraft carrier with airplanes taking off is an image of a weapon that floats on water, fires missiles, lets its panes go into the air and land on its decks (earth). EARTH, AIR, FIRE, and WATER were believed by classical philosophers to be the fundamental building blocks of nature. This example is unique - a trial print made for Finlay by Kenneth Townsend a specialist in tiles making based in Hastings - Finlay rejected the tile and preferred to release a single brown on white coloured version in an edition of c. 100.

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24 Apr THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY. CIRCULAR TILE. 1975.

Posted at 18:23h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
14.8 dia., red on white ceramic tile with one of the Heroic Emblems on it. The text "THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY." refers to the defining sea battle of the War in the Pacific when the USA destroyed the Japanese fleet. The image of an aircraft carrier hidden in smoke to prevent air attacks is associated with Dante's opening words from the Inferno "In the middle of our life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood.”. The image on this circular tile is the same as that on the square tile issued at the same time and while the limitation not known for some reason this is a much rare version of the ceramic than the square one.

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19 Apr THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY. SQUARE TILE. 1975. ONE OF 100 MADE.

Posted at 18:14h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
14.8 x 14.8.cm, red on white ceramic tile with one of the Heroic Emblems on it. The text "THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY." refers to the defining sea battle of the War in the Pacific when the USA destroyed the Japanese fleet. The image of an aircraft carrier hidden in smoke to prevent air attacks is associated with Dante's opening words from the Inferno "In the middle of our life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood.”. One of only 100 made. Very scarce object multiple.

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19 Apr BATTLE OF MIDWAY FOURTH JUNE 1942. 1975.

Posted at 16:29h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
15.3 x 15.3cm., purple on white ceramic tile with a design after a drawing by Laurie Clark representing the American and Japanese Fleets during the battle of Midway as bees and hives. The American fleet destroyed most of the ships while the Japanese airplanes were in air and the latter had nowhere to land after launching. The various hives (with the names of the ships) can be seen to be on fire. The vast distance between the ships meant that they never saw each other - and the intervening rosebushes obscuring the hives from each other act as a metaphor for the distance. One of only 100 made. VG+....

25 Mar SAVED BY HELICOPTER. 1975.

Posted at 10:48h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
12 x 12cm., olive green and black on white ceramic tile. The image is a newspaper story of how the Morning Star ran aground and that a boat called the Twilight came to the rescue. Clearly the story appealed to Finlay due to the coincidences of the names. One of 100 published. Very scarce.

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20 Mar THROUGH A DARK WOOD. MIDWAY. 1975. MEDALLION.

Posted at 12:52h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1975
3.5cm, dia. copper and brass plated aluminium medallion with chain. With a design by Ron Costley (which originally was created for the exhibition Heroic Emblems) of the smoke issued by the aircraft carriers to reduce visibility to enemy planes and helicopters during the battle of Midway The text borrows from the opening lines of Dante's 'Divine Comedy': 'In the middle of the journey of our life ('Midway'), I came to myself in a dark wood". The dark wood here is a smoke, This is based on a Costley drawing for the book "Heroic Emblems" and is one of four Finlay medals based on those original collaborative illustrations.
All of the Heroic Emblems showed modern machines (mostly of war) in reference to Classical myths. With original box and 14.5 x 14.5cm, 1pp (folded twice) leaflet with a commentary by Stephen Bann. Edition size not known but very hard to find.

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25 Feb THE HARBOUR. 1975.

Posted at 11:30h in Object + Paper Multiples

Little Sparta: Wild Hawthorn Press, n.d. (1975)
13 x 13cm., green on white ceramic tile. The image is a drawing by Michael Harvey and a verse:"When from the Nor' Nor' West it blows/And sudden showers make waters chilly/I wrap my sails about my nose and anchor by the water-lily." The verse came from a collection of such poems called A MAST OF HANKIES - each of which tells a tale of toy boats. The reference to the sail being wrapped around one's nose is from the idea that the sails of the model boats are created from nose hankies. Finlay for many years built such toys. VG+. Very scarce....

19 May SPIRAL BINDING. 1972. ONE OF ONLY 70 SIGNED & NUMBERED EXAMPLES.

Posted at 20:37h in Object + Paper Multiples

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1972
45 x 18.5cm, orange silkscreen on shaped card with additional triangular card both spiral bound to create a stand-up paper sculpture that resembles a yacht with sails up. This is one of Finlay's most rare works only issued in 70 signed and numbered copies (there were blue versions of the work also). Co-designed with Ron Costley. This examplee has a very slight bend at the top else VG. Murray places this as a print but it is clearly closer to an object multiple and that is where we have catalogued it.

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